CWP Nos. 4635, 5392, 7201 of 2015 (O&M) and 5287 of 2016 (O&M). Case: Mandeep Kaur and Ors. Vs State of Punjab. High Court of Punjab (India)
| Case Number | CWP Nos. 4635, 5392, 7201 of 2015 (O&M) and 5287 of 2016 (O&M) |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Kapil Kakkar, Advocate and For Respondents: Pankaj Malwani, DAG |
| Judges | Jaishree Thakur, J. |
| Issue | Constitution of India - Articles 226, 227, 309 |
| Judgement Date | January 27, 2017 |
| Court | High Court of Punjab (India) |
Judgment:
Jaishree Thakur, J.
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By this order, this court shall dispose of four petitions i.e. Civil Writ Petition No. 4635 of 2015 titled as 'Mandeep Kaur v. State of Punjab', Civil Writ Petition No. 5392 of 2015 titled as 'Shalini and others v. State of Punjab', Civil Writ Petition No. 7201 of 2015 titled as 'Kanwaljeet Singh v. State of Punjab' and Civil Writ Petition No. 5287 of 2016 titled as 'Sumit Kumar v. State of Punjab and others' being arisen out of the similar facts and a common question of law is involved. In order to avoid repetition and for sake of brevity, facts are being taken from Civil Writ Petition No. 4635 of 2015 titled as 'Mandeep Kaur v. State of Punjab'.
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The instant writ petitions have been filed under Articles 226/227 of Constitution of India seeking a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari for quashing public notice dated 29.09.2014 and the merit list issued on 05.03.2015, being against the statutory rules namely Punjab Civil Secretariat (State Service Class III) Rules, 1976 for short the Rules of 1976
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In brief, the facts are that the petitioners are possessing minimum qualification as prescribed in an advertisement issued on 29.09.2014 and applied for the post of Senior Assistant. Pursuant thereto a written competition test was held on 01.04.2015 and on securing the necessary marks in Paper-I and Paper-2, they were called to appear in the computer test held on 21.02.2015. The result was issued and the merit list was uploaded on the website of the Department, in which, the name of the petitioners were not reflected as successful candidates. Aggrieved against denial of appointment, the instant writ petitions have been filed.
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Mr. Kapil Kakkar, Advocate, for the petitioner in CWP No. 4635 of 2014, Mr. Mohit Garg, Advocate for the petitioner(s) in CWPs No. 5392 and 7201 of 2015 and Mr. Rajender Kumar, Advocate for Mr. P.S. Dhaliwal, Advocate for the petitioner in CWP No. 5287 of 2016 argued that the post of Senior Assistant is governed by the Rules called the Punjab Civil Secretariat (State Service Class III) Rules, 1976 and Rule 7(I) contains the mode of appointment, minimum educational qualification and experience required for different classes of posts, which is as under:-
Sr. No.
Name of Post
Method of Appointment
Minimum Education and other qualification
Minimum Experience
Remarks
3
Senior Assistant
(i) Seventy five percent by promotion from Amongst Clerk
i) Matriculate of a Recognized University of Board as the case may be.
ii) Qualified in a departmental test to be held by the Chief Authority or the recruiting authority
Five years' service as Clerk
(ii) Twenty five percent by direct appointment
i) A degree of a recognized University or its equivalent.
ii) Qualifies in the competitive test to be held by the recruiting authority.
(iii) By transfer of officials serving in other Departments of the
Punjab Government, if a suitable candidate is not available for promotion or by direct recruitmenti) A degree of a recognized University or its equivalent.
ii) Qualifies in the competitive test to be held by the recruiting authority.
Three years' service as Assistant
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It is argued that as per above-stated Sub-rule 25% of the post are to be filled in by direct recruitment and the minimum educational qualification as provided in the said rule is that a candidate must possess; i) a degree of a recognized university or its equivalent, ii) qualifies in the competitive test to be held by the recruiting agency. It is argued that the advertisement issued is in direct controversy to the Rules of 1976, as the minimum qualification prescribed in the advertisement was:-
a) Applicant should be Graduate in any discipline from a recognized university.
b) Possesses at least 120 hrs course with hands on experience in the use of Personal Computer or Information Technology in Office Productivity applications or Desktop Publishing applications from a Government recognized institution or a reputed institution, which is ISO 9001, certified, OR
Possesses a Computer Information technology course equivalent to 'O' level certificate of Department of Electronics Accreditation of Computer Course (DOEACC) of Government of India.
c) He must have passed Punjab upto Matric or its equivalent level.
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Further, all the candidates would have to appear in the two written paper with a further stipulation, which read as under:-
On the basis of merit of Paper-I, candidates equal to five times the number of posts advertised in each category, in order of merit will be shortlisted and only their Paper-II will be evaluated. On the basis of combined merit...
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